ENCINO : Bank Plans to Fill In ‘Lake Hayvenhurst’

Signaling that a giant eyesore may soon disappear, Imperial Bank has obtained a city permit to fill a giant crater at Hayvenhurst Avenue and Ventura Boulevard in Encino, an officer of the bank said.

“We’ve pulled the permit,” said David Blitz, a senior vice president at Imperial Bank. “The job should be done in relatively short order.”

Blitz said he would not be more specific about when the hole would be filled, citing ongoing negotiations with the contractor.

Nonetheless, a board member of an Encino homeowner group praised the news.

“We’re pleased that the bank has been responsive to the neighbors’ concerns,” said Robert Glushon, a board member and past president of the Encino Property Owners Assn. Glushon said his group had earlier lobbied for the hole to remain until it was certain that a development requiring excavation would not be approved for the site.

“That was the last thing we wanted,” Glushon said, “for them to fill it and then turn around and dig it up again.”

Known among its Encino neighbors as “Lake Hayvenhurst” because it fills with water during the rainy season, the hole was dug in 1990 to remove contaminated soil from the site that previously housed a gas station with a leaking underground gas tank.

The bank had a fence erected around the hole and later had it covered with a mural, but the site was still decried by neighbors as a safety hazard and eyesore.

It has since been the site of several proposed developments, including a supermarket, drugstore and bookstore, but no agreements have been reached.

Blitz also said the bank expects to make an announcement “in the near future” regarding a development at the site, adding that negotiations are continuing. He declined to provide further details.